Dr. Judy Barker was worried to say in the least. Although she was stressed and anxious and tired as well, how she felt was evidently nothing compared to how Max was feeling. She lived only a few houses down from him and had come up to ask if he knew how Pine Hollow was – to ask if he'd been in contact with Red O'Malley. Everyone knew that Red lived at the barn.

Deborah had been on and off her cell phone all day. Max had been using the landline inside his house for a while, but the power had gone out recently, and he'd begun to use his own cell phone instead. Judy's power had been out since the night before. She was tired of sitting alone in her cold house – that was another reason she'd come to the Regnery household.

Judy was seated on the couch now, literally twiddling her thumbs. She watched Max as he paced back and forth in front of her. She could see his hands trembling. It made her even more anxious to see him so anxious. "Look," Judy finally said, "I'm sure that Red can handle everything this storm throws at him."

"He's already had a tree thrown at him," Max ground out. "And apparently he's managed to hurt himself, too."

"Is he all right?" asked Judy, concerned.

"He keeps trying to tell me that, but I don't believe him," Max answered. He checked his watch in a frenetic manner. "It's time for me to call him again." Max had already pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and was in the middle of dialing the number when Judy's own cell phone rang. She checked the number – it was unrecognized. She answered it just in case.

"Hello?"

"Oh, thank God," breathed Red O'Malley on the other end of the line. "Her water broke. She's lying down, she's breathing hard, everything seems to be fine at the moment but I can't be sure."

Judy nodded. "It's Red," she told Max. "Angelfire's in labor." At this, Max said quickly and quite loudly, "Put him on speaker!" Judy obeyed, and soon Red's voice was echoing in the living room. Deborah rushed in from the dining room, her phone in hand.

"Are you still there?" asked Red. He sounded absolutely petrified.

"Yes, yes, I'm here. I'm sure it will be perfectly fine. Most mares don't need any assistance."

"You sure? She's bleeding."

Judy tilted her head slightly. "How much?"

"I don't know, a little."

"Not very worrying, I'd say."

There was silence for a few long minutes. In the background, there was labored breathing, with the occasional grunt. "How long do you think she's been in labor?" Judy asked. At the same time, Red blurted, "Judy there's something wrong."

"What's wrong?" demanded Max.

"She's been in labor for at least twenty minutes and there's been no progression. D'you think – d'you think the foal's facing the wrong way?"

Judy closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, she cleared her throat and said, "If you can't see his feet then he's facing the wrong way. To save the mare and the foal you're going to have to go in there and turn him."

"Are you serious?"

"Incredibly."

Judy and Max stared at each other for a long moment. Finally Red said, "Yeah, I'll do it. Just tell me what to do."

"Yes, okay. Get some disinfectant and pour it into a clean bucket." Judy waited while she heard movement on the other end of the line. There was a light thump and a sharp yelp that was painful to hear. "Red?" asked Judy. "Red, are you there?"

"Yeah," said Red, with audible effort. "I'm still here." He said nothing else, and they were treated to a tense few minutes of silence – and then Red said, "I've got the disinfectant in the bucket. It's betadine. Is that okay?"

"It's good, it's good," said Judy. Max looked even more anxious than he had before, if that was possible. "Red, are you okay?"

"I don't matter!" Red barked. "We're losing two horses here! Tell me what to do!"

Judy nodded, even though Red couldn't see her. "Okay. Let's do this. Tie the mare's hind feet together so she can't kick you." Judy waited for a while before asking, "Have you got that done?"

"Yeah, keep going."

"You're going to have to reach in there and feel for the foal. First, if you've got any Latex gloves, put those on. After you do that, disinfect your hands by putting them into the bucket of betadine. You're going to need disinfected string as well."

There was another too-long period of quiet. Finally Red said, sounding shaky, "Okay. I've got the gloves on and I have the string and everything is all disinfected. What now?"

"Reach in and feel for the foal."

Judy listened hard as Red presumably obeyed her. They could hear nothing but white noise for what seemed to be a ludicrously long time. Max started pacing again; Deborah covered her mouth with her hand; and Judy considered joining Max. Then Red said, "It's his head."

"He's facing the wrong way. You'll need to tie the string around his pastern and leave the end of the string out. Pull firmly on the string while you push his head back into the mare's uterus. This should enable the mare to foal normally."

"Okay," said Red. "Okay, I can do this."

Then there was silence, and it had never been louder. Red suddenly said after a minute, "Judy, what do I -"

And the line went dead.

"Red?" Judy said into the phone. "Red, are you there? Can you hear me?" There was no response. She looked at the screen of her phone. Call ended. Judy took a deep breath and put her phone down as she looked up at Max and Deborah. "He's gone," she said. "The line's dead. I don't know what happened."

Max looked miserable beyond compare. "He was using his cell phone," he said bleakly. "The tree that collapsed crushed Pine Hollow's landline. His phone probably just died. It had to have been on for days without charging."

"It's a miracle it got this far," said Deborah. "I'm sure he's performing wonderfully." She sounded as though she was trying to convince herself of this as well.

Max looked like he wanted to say something. Instead, he covered his mouth with his hand and started to pace again. Judy gave in and joined him in his pacing. Finally Max burst, "I can't stand it anymore, I am driving out there and getting through to that barn if it's the last thing I do!"

Deborah protested. Judy wasn't sure whether she ought to or not. Max, who Judy just noticed had been sporting only one shoe, hurried into the front hall and pulled on his other shoe. He hopped to his feet and swung open the door and looked out –

Into the rainless air.

"It stopped!" Max cried. "It stopped raining!" With a joyful thought of praise for the Lord, Max jogged out to his truck. Both Deborah and Judy followed. "Good," said Max. "Judy, we're definitely going to need you out there."

And with no thoughts to the trees blocking all the roads, they started away from the Regnery house.

A/N: Damn, I'm mean! :P Haha, well, review and you'll find out what happens sooner! ;) Oh, and I had to look up all that stuff about the pregnancy; I'm guessing it's right, but ya never know with what you find on the Internet. *shrug*

DISCLAIMER: See the first chapter for it and the warning.